The Highest Form of Flattery
by NoMane
Summary: It started off just like any other day; chasing Sonic and having him give her the slip. However, when she headed to Tails's workshop, hoping to find him, things took a turn for the worse.
1. Reflection

**The Highest Form of Flattery**

**Chapter 1: Reflection**

Amy felt lightheaded from the heat, which didn't help her feel any less thirsty or tired from all the running. Though she was more in shape than she was a year or two ago, chasing after Sonic at his speed just wasn't possible.

Even when he slowed down, it wasn't easy.

He had gotten away.

She stared after him for a time, breathing in and out heavily as she reached into her backpack for a drink.

The hedgehog's bottle of water was barely half full, but it was good enough. It wasn't much warmer than any other late-spring day, but after the run from one end of town to the other under the noon-time sun, it felt extremely torrid.

After draining the plastic of every last drop she could get into her mouth, she dropped it and headed home.

Halfway there, she saw Knuckles. Surprised, she walked over to him, "Hey, Knuckles. What's up?"

"Tails called for me to come over, he said it was important..." The red guardian shrugged and told her, "You might as well come along. Maybe it'll be something interesting."

She could tell that he just wanted to get back to the Master Emerald, but she ignored that completely and nodded eagerly, "Let's go! Sonic might be there!"

He grinned at her enthusiasm, though she barely caught sight of that as she turned and ran for Tails's house. Despite her earlier fatigue, it seemed like she had found energy that she hid from herself for moments like these. Either he didn't bother with keeping up or couldn't. She ran around the house so she could get into the entrance that went directly into the workshop.

She crashed through the door, not bothering to stop. If she stopped, Sonic would have a chance to run off again. That was something that she would not allow to happen. Colliding with the door hurt, but it didn't cost her too much speed. This time, she would catch him!

Unfortunately, the amorphous, blue energy field directly in front of her was not Sonic. She did her best to skid to a stop, but she was still sliding forward, directly towards it. When she realized that something was wrong, she was only a few inches away. Shocked, she fell backwards with a yelp, only to feel herself stopped from falling by the same force that kept pulling her in. She felt like a doll in the hands of a mighty spirit as she was dragged upward, a few feet off of the ground.

As soon as she made contact, she couldn't move. She cried out in indignation as she realized this, "Get me down from here!"

Her exclamations, however, fell on deaf ears. There was no one in the lab to hear her. After several more seconds of irritation and shouting, she took stock of her situation. She could breathe freely and speak very well (and loudly), but she couldn't even make a finger twitch.

The pink hedgehog silently lamented the way she dashed in here. Not only had there been no Sonic, but she had gotten herself trapped. It could prove to be an age before she would be brought down from here. This position could prove rather problematic if she had to...attend to private matters.

Thankfully, she did not have to worry about such things, for only a few minutes after being captured, she fell to the floor. She reacted quickly enough to land in a crouch and, from there, looked around. She was surprised she could move her head, but it was certainly not an unwelcome discovery.

Amy stretched a little bit and enjoyed her mobility. She headed for the stairs up into the house; she owed Tails a bit of an apology for knocking his door down.

The door at the top of the steps opened before she could even lay a foot on them, however.

She stopped for a moment, shocked when she saw Knuckles standing in the doorway and not Tails.

"Hey there." He grinned for a moment, but it quickly changed into a scowl, "This must be some kind of joke. Tails isn't here and you're here trapped by some sort of machine. He's not going to be happy..."

"All over a door?"

"Well..." He said it with little remorse, "I couldn't find a way to release you by pressing buttons, so I started smashing the consoles."

"Well, thanks." She smiled at him, but quickly sobered up, "We have to find Tails and make sure he's okay...he could be in trouble."

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, before exhaling in a relieved fashion a few moments later, "The Master Emerald has not been disturbed yet. Someone was not just trying to draw me away from Angel Island...I've been away for far too long."

Sonic's biggest fan fell into thought for a moment, before she laid eyes on a small, white phone on the wall of the lab, "Hopefully, Tails will answer his phone, then we can put this whole ordeal behind us."

Amy picked up the phone and hurriedly pressed buttons. After nearly ten seconds, she cursed and slammed the handset down on the receiver, "He's not picking up!"

Knuckles growled, "So we have no clue where Sonic and Tails are, or what Eggman's up to!"

At that moment, the phone rang.

She picked it up again, "Hello?"

"Amy?!"

"Rouge?"

She sounded frantic and out of breath, "You need to get to the park, hurry!" As soon as that was done, the connection was ended.

She looked at the strong echidna and told him where they had to go. He seemed even more serious, perhaps at the mention of the bat. He ran out first, muttering something about thieves and tricks. Despite the way she had left him in the dust earlier, she found that she would have to go into a true sprint to do it now.

They arrived quickly, though they didn't like what they found. The streets were mostly empty, save for a large perimeter set up on the other side of the park by police and robots, and the jewel enthusiast was in the park, barely holding back...Amy?

Apparently, said perimeter was to keep Eggman from fleeing into the more populated part of town.

"Ha ha ha!" The genius was watching the fight from above, in his usual floating craft.

"Eggman!" Knuckles shouted in a rage as he charged to attack the hedgehog that was already in the fray.

"This is low, even for you!" Instead of joining the fight, Amy stood back and shouted up at him.

"You're only mad because she stole your look! Or...did you steal hers?" Eggman laughed at this.

In anger, she summoned her hammer and tossed it at him. The hovering vehicle quickly dodged to the side.

"Worry more about your friends!" He retorted, pointing at the fight.

Currently, the red furred fighter was having electricity shot through him. Rogue had fallen, off to the side. By the time the current had stopped, he had lost consciousness.

The pink hedgehog saw how her friends had been defeated and grew angry. Without a thought towards her own safety, she summoned another hammer and dashed towards the greater foe. The copy gazed her for a moment, before saying, "Here, come on!" The voice imitation was perfect, just as perfect as the visual imitation.

Before the battle could continue, however, a similar hammer appeared in the hands of the fake.

"What...how?"

"Stand down until attacked or ordered to attack." The professor ordered, taking a moment to gloat, "It's really simple, actually. The hammer has a minuscule machine in it that allows it to shrink or grow inside of a second. When it's so small, she is able to conceal it in a secret compartment in her hand. I may not be able to have her mimic everything about you, but she can come pretty close!"

"I'll destroy it!" With that, Amy lunged, Piko-Piko Hammer raised high.

The attack was blocked, however, when the hafts of both hammers met, "You're slow." She mocked with an angel's smile.

They struggled against each other briefly, before the robot revealed that it was far stronger by easily throwing off the biological counterpart. She nearly fell to the ground after being pushed back.

"Well, Amy, have you had enough? The odds are against you. Knucklehead and Rouge couldn't win, even with each other's help. Perhaps you could defeat my robot, though, so I will retreat for now. Aimbot! Retreat!"

Before she could start another attack, the Aimbot, as it was called, turned and jumped aboard the hovercraft with Eggman, which quickly flew well above the barrage of bullets and lasers launched by the robots and police. She cursed again, knowing immediately that she was unable to catch up without going full speed and she couldn't just leave her friends behind.

The one question that entered her head while she watched him fly away was: Why had he done that? Whether his robot was about to win or not, Eggman wasn't one to just retreat when he still had a trick or two left...

Then it hit her...the police were neither standing down nor coming in to help...so they must still be too wary to trust her. Escaping might be difficult if they decided to give chase...

Before she could think of a plan, the thief called out to her, weakly.

She knelt next to the fallen, "Rouge..."

The bat reached into a pocket and withdrew a folding cellphone, "Take my phone...call...ess..." With that, her eyes fell shut and her open hand fell flat.

"Ess?" She looked confused, wondering what she meant, even as she grabbed the phone. The fact that the phone controls were foreign to her didn't help things. Eventually, she went into the contact list and found one labeled S.

She hit the call button and, only a couple moments later, she was answered by a calm voice, "What's wrong, Rouge?"

"I don't know who you are, but Rouge told me to call you! We're in the park, please help!"

"Hmph." With that, the stranger on the other end hung up.

She dropped the phone, feeling angry. Before it hit the ground, however, a bright flash of light left her blinded. In all his glory, the Ultimate Life Form appeared.

He grimly looked upon the scene before him and noticed that neither the echidna nor the bat would die here.

"Shadow..."

He instructed her to touch them as he touched her hand, as to form a chain. When he was sure that they were all in contact, he looked down at the bat grimly, "Chaos Control!"

In an flash, they were gone.

The trip was nauseating, but mercifully short. When the light died down again, they were on Angel Island, near the shrine.

"Shadow, why did you take us here?"

"For now, no one knows where we are...and these two will be able to rest. For me, whatever beat them should prove rather beatable."

To that, she didn't take too much offense, "It was one of Eggman's inventions, something he called...Aimbot." She quickly explained what it was to him.

"Why would he copy you?" He coldly asked no one in particular.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"

"I mean, why?" He spoke as if to a child, "What does he plan to do with it? It can fight, but so could any other robot. It can steal, but so could any other robot. However...this robot can do all of that and look just like you. I understand now that I've had some time to think about it, he's probably going to frame you and profit highly while the authorities waste resources. Even if they've figured out that Eggman made a copy of you, they probably will still go after you until they are sure that the fake is destroyed. After all, they're content with putting ten innocent people in jail to catch one guilty person."

She looked down at the ground, ashamed of her outburst as well as her inability to think this up in the time she had, "So what do we do?"

"For now, Amy, you wait. I'll go back and do what needs to be done. You keep an eye on those two...that task will be easy enough for you. Make sure they don't kill each other over that damn gem." He looked off into the distance for a moment, "Chaos Control!"

"Shadow, wait!" She shouted as she heard him speaking the first word, but it was too late.

Amy sighed as he disappeared, then looked at her unconscious friends, trying to hide her feelings of hopelessness. She sat down next to the two and tried to relax, attempting to save her energy. Something told her that she would need it...


	2. Peacekeeping

**The Highest Form of Flattery**

**Chapter 2: Peacekeeping**

She spent a few hours in silence before Knuckles finally woke up. She was glad to see that he had made it through without any permanent damage, though she wasn't too happy that he seemed content with doing nothing except guarding the Emerald.

Of course, she hadn't expected anything else from him, especially with Rouge so close.

Amy sighed and told him that she would be looking for some food for the lot of them. He acknowledged her statement with a nod, watching his unconscious guest warily.

She found much food very near to the shrine, but she felt a need to jog... She was nervous and sitting around had made her uncomfortable. If she was waiting for something, be it good or bad, she could rarely sit still and feel all right about it. Now, she had a double reason; if she could get into any better shape than she was already in, perhaps she could defeat that machine.

It occurred to her while she was out that, despite the fact that he couldn't set out with her to fight right now, perhaps Knuckles could be useful to her. After all, he was great at fighting with his fists. Then her brain really thought of the possibilities...

If Rouge and Knuckles both taught her, she could become skilled enough at hand to hand to defeat that fake without any effort.

Then she remembered that it could have beaten all three of them without any effort at all. That didn't exactly give her any hope. When her slow jog had finally gotten her to the edge of the island, she stood a stone's throw from it for a second and gazed off at the sky.

"Sonic...where are you? I hope you're all right...and I hope you'll come take me far away from here...

After a few seconds more, she decided that fantasizing about being off the island would do her no good, and turned back.

She didn't feel hopeless, though she did feel depressed that she could be spending many days here. Despite that fact, the thought of her cobalt hero coming to save her never did completely abandon her mind.

When she came back, Amy had some oranges and enough grapes to satisfy Knuckles. She set the food down gently on some of the stones of the path and took an orange for herself. She called to the echidna and told him to come over for some of the food. As he did so, she looked over to where Rouge had been lying.

Gone.

"Hi there."

The hammer wielding maiden yelped and turned around, shocked to find the bat directly behind her, "Don't do that!"

She smirked and took up some of the grapes for herself.

That annoyed Amy, but she wasn't really in the mood to start a fight over something so petty. She was satisfied with the fact that they weren't going at each other over the Master Emerald and really didn't need to cause herself any problems, either.

She ate her fruit rather quickly, having missed lunch during the earlier ordeal. It was enough for her; she had done without before, which was a little easy to tell with how skinny she was.

Of course, she always considered herself to be average, always working to better herself...to be prettier...

With a shake of her head, she turned to the others, "Knuckles, how are you feeling?"

"I'm fine." He said as he popped another grape in his mouth. Someone as stubborn as him wouldn't have responded any differently, but he didn't look weak or tired.

"Rouge, what about you?"

"I'm all right." It didn't become clear whether that was a bluff or not.

However, Knuckles decided to be the one to question the validity of her claim, "Yeah, right."

"Don't push me."

"Or what?" He sounded ready for a fight...all too eager, from one particular observer's point of view.

The weapon was in her hands in a moment. With a shout, she brought it down, "I won't have this!"

It didn't rattle the earth, but it definitely made them consider paying attention to her.

Amy let the head of the hammer rest on the ground, "You're both hurt, even if you won't admit it." Though her voice never lost it's stern anger for a moment, "Save the fighting for tomorrow!"

They looked at each other and came to an agreement with a nod, "You know. That hammer doesn't give you the right to start giving orders." Rouge spoke for the two of them.

"Oh! Well, excuse me! I was just trying to keep you two from doing anything that might make you heal slower!" She stomped her foot, "You two may be stronger than me, but that doesn't give you the right to fight like children when you should be resting! I'll be glad to watch you two eviscerate each other some other day, when we aren't in the middle of a crisis!"

"Calm down. Shadow will handle things." She assured the younger, less calm girl. This allayed her worries, for the short moments of silence that stood.

"You have a lot of faith in him." Knuckles grumbled.

"You have a lot of faith in Sonic, don't you?"

He sighed, "I'm just saying: if we couldn't beat that robot, what makes you think Shadow can? I seriously doubt that he's better than the three of us."

"You're selling him short!"

"..." Amy turned away, coming to the conclusion that she couldn't possibly stop these two from arguing. Even when one of them was rational and not trying to start anything, the other would take it as an excuse to commence another argument.

She busied herself with thinking about something else.

"And you're...you're selling him long!"

The thief laughed, "No, I just know how to have faith in a friend."

"I know how to have faith in everyone together." He growled.

"Ha! That coming from the guy who always spends his time alone? Priceless!"

"That doesn't make me any less right, you know." Despite his expression, he sounded less agitated.

"Yeah, but...I have a feeling that we would have slowed him down as we are now."

The hedgehog was amazed to hear them agree, but she doubted it would last.

"Bastard...he better come back." The guardian grumbled again.

"He'll come back, he's never let us down before." She gently told him.

"Right." This time, however, he actually sounded sincere. Wordlessly, he stepped away from the two ladies to return to the Master Emerald.

This made Amy wonder, if only for a moment, as to whether the arguments were a strange, yet commonplace part of their behavior or not.

Rouge interrupted her thoughts, "Amy...may I have my cellphone back?"

"Of course." When her hands came up empty, she realized that it was not present, "Oh gosh, Rouge, I dropped it at the park and I forgot to pick it up!" Only now did it's potential importance become apparent...

A tear came to her eye as she realized that Shadow could be in trouble and there would be no way for them to know until he came back...or didn't.

"Darn it! We..." The white furred female looked at her and sighed softly, "well, no use crying over spilled milk."

After a brief pause, she added, "You know, kid, you should get some sleep. There's really nothing to see here except Knuckles watching that gem and you look awful."

The pink hedgehog mixed offense with concern, "What about you? I didn't even get hit, you got knocked out."

"I'll work that out with Knuckles...we can't all be asleep at the same time. I'm a little tougher than you're giving me credit for."

With a nod, they went off in opposite directions. The younger found a nice, shady tree to lay under. The grass was so comfortable and, as it turned out, her tiredness had only been holding back long enough for her to find such a place. Coincidentally, it gave her a rather nice view of the Master Emerald, and the two who held such intense, yet dissimilar interests in it. The hammer, though not needed there, had been set on the ground beside her.

With a light yawn, she watched the interaction.

At first, the encounter was peaceful. Of course, a guard and a thief could never get along too well when the former stood between the latter and his charge.

Naturally, that did not last. Quiet words quickly were joined by fighting gestures. Suddenly, the red echidna was tripped. Standing up and rubbing some of the dirt off of her red dress, she quickly ran over to stop this little engagement before it could escalate.

She got up there in time for Rouge to jump backwards and to claim that she had been acting preemptively.

With hammer firmly in hand, Amy demanded that they stop.

"I won't stand by and let her steal the Master Emerald!" Knuckles proclaimed as he got to his feet.

"He attacked me! Don't believe him!"

"Apologize, now, or I'm going to make you both sorry!" She stood with her signature weapon held high, ready to make good on those words.

They turned towards her, then glared at each other, then at her again.

"Looks like a standoff, then." The elite burglar stated, stepping away from both of them and taking a combat stance.

"If that's the way it has to be, I'll defeat you both to protect the Master Emerald!"

"No, don't do this!" She pleaded, realizing that threatening a fight to stop a fight had been a foolish idea.

Then, they whirled on her, "You wanted a fight, now you have one!" They spoke in unison.

Twirling her hammer, she tried to fend them off. However, they split up and attacked from opposite sides. Deciding that Rouge was the better target, she swung to strike the bat down. With a mighty kick, the haft of the hammer was broken in two. Shocked motionless for but a moment, Amy felt a large hand wrap around her throat.

Air quickly grew limited, and she began to beg for mercy with what little volume she could muster, "Please...don't!"

Rouge smirked sinisterly, "Die."

There was a resounding crack and everything fell into darkness.

With a scream of absolute terror, she awoke under the shady tree. Of course, now everything was shady...the sun had set some time ago.

Touching her neck with one hand, as if to assure herself it was still intact, she looked around wildly.

Rouge reached out and touched her shoulder gently, speaking soothingly, "Shh, shh...honey, it's okay."

The pink hedgehog jerked foward, frightened and surprised. As far as she had known, she had been alone until now. She turned around so she could easily see the female who had touched her.

"Amy, what's wrong?"

When the echidna approached, as well, she noticed the concern on his face and knew not to recoil again. Sighing heavily, as if to compose herself, she looked at them both silently.

"What's wrong with her?" Knuckles spoke for the first time.

With a shudder, Amy announced, "Bad dream...it was just a bad dream."

"Are you all right?" She questioned gently, taking care not to touch her again.

She nodded, though she knew that she looked pretty skittish.

"Do you want us to stay with you for a while?" He queried, softening his voice a little.

She looked at him, half expecting the visage from the nightmare, but only saw worry in his eyes. When she saw a similar look in the other's eyes, she knew that all was well once again.

Again, the youngest nodded and sat down, comforted by the fact that she had two people to look out for her. The images of them as her murderers began to fade from her head, as they proved that they were far more caring than that.

Together, they spent at least an hour sitting there, ensuring that everyone was safe, before the pink damsel finally succumbed to sleep again.


	3. Peacemaking

**The Highest Form of Flattery**

**Chapter 3: Peacemaking**

She awoke the next morning, amazed to find someone's arm wrapped around her. Sadly, it wasn't Sonic's...just Rouge's. Carefully, she eased out of the nighttime embrace and stood up, only to see Knuckles in front of her.

"Hey, good to see you up." He whispered in his usual tone. He seemed to have picked some fresh fruit and was partaking of an orange.

Despite what had happened last night, it was good to hear him talk normally, to not have him worry about her too much.

"Good morning, Knuckles." Amy spoke softly, out of respect for the still sleeping, "Feeling any better?"

"Yes." He carefully handed her some grapes, taking great care not to damage them.

She ate them slowly, savoring their flavor.

"Tasty, aren't they?" He commented, turning his gaze towards the rising sun, "The ones on the mainland don't taste half as good."

"I wouldn't know. They don't sell grapes cheap at the supermarket near my house."

"Is money tight for you?" Having spent all of his life where it was free to stay as long as he would like, he had no idea of his friends' budgets.

"No, but I don't like to spend a lot...on food..." The small grin she had betrayed her true spending habits.

He laughed, "That sounds wasteful of you. You spend a lot of money on clothes, then?"

"Yes...I don't always wear a dress like this one, but it's one of my favorite outfits."

He was about to comment, but he stopped with his mouth half open and turned toward the Master Emerald shrine, breaking into a run.

Amy saw it as she followed. It was her...standing atop the precious jewel, "Aimbot!"

"Hello there!" It spoke with an innocent smile, with its arms wide as if it were about to hug an old friend.

"Get away from the Master Emerald!" Knuckles charged towards the invader, ready to strike.

Seeing no other logical choice, the hedgehog followed him, drawing forth the Piko-Piko Hammer from the realm it rested in.

The robot demonstrated great agility as it leaped over him and aimed the first kick at its lookalike.

Furious at it, she swung hard when it was unable to dodge in the air. For the first time, she had damaged the accursed machine. With a cry of pain that was quite lifelike, it was knocked aside like a plaything. It collided with a tree several meters away and fell to the ground there, nearly knocking the proud plant all the way over. The roots were straining just to hold the tree up, that much was obvious.

When it stood up, it proudly announced, "Damage report: zero point five percent damaged!"

As obvious by the expression on the face of the real Amy Rose, she had expected a far higher number.

"Rouge, wake up!" The proud, red fighter called to the sleeping bat, hoping to rouse her.

Amy decided that she would have to be the one to keep it from getting back on the attack. She rushed towards it, weapon at the ready.

It moved swiftly to meet her in the middle, its own weapon growing quickly into its hands.

"Hah!" They imitated each other perfectly as the twin hammers impacted each other.

There was a loud snap as the Piko-Piko Hammer failed to hold together, head shattering to pieces as it broke off of the haft.

She stumbled backwards from the force of the blow, barely avoiding the strike of the still intact weapon. A yelp escaped her as she barely dodged a sweeping swing and countered by trying to trip her enemy with the newly formed staff. The mechanical being jumped over that and tried to finish the job, when, suddenly, it turned to the right. Just in time, it ducked under a flying kick from Rouge, but was caught completely off guard by a fist coming out of the ground and grabbing its foot.

Knowing exactly what was planned, the furious girl swung the stick at its head. In lieu of taking the blow, Aimbot bent backwards.

With a hard yank, it managed to break free. When the second strike from the staff came, it caught the weapon with its hands and pulled it out of its owners hands. Whirling around quickly, the robot managed to strike the snowy white bat right in the left side, knocking her down.

Knuckles burst forth from the dirt beneath it and delivered a hard blow to its leg, causing it to stagger backwards.

The echidna, bat, and hedgehog did their best to try to surround it, with the first approaching from the front while the other flanked it from opposite sides. They were all well within three arms' length of it.

"Damage report: five percent damaged! The doctor wants you alive, but that doesn't mean that I have to hold back!"

It raised its left arm, pointing towards Rouge, and giggled as lighting burst forth from the fingers. Reacting quickly, the guardian dove into her, pushing her out of the way and taking the voltage. Despite his great strength, he couldn't help but cry out in agony

Amy wasn't about to let it get away with that, but someone else shared her sentiments and acted on them faster. A much larger pulse of electricity flew down from the heavens and struck it. It fell to the ground, still jerking or spasming every now and again as it sparked.

When her eyes went skyward, she saw a blue airplane that was all too familiar. Though the attachments under its wings were different than usual.

"Tails!"

Quickly, the craft landed and its pilot jumped out.

"Amy, Rouge!" He cried, concern written all over his face, "Are you all right? Is Knuckles all right?"

Despite being subjected to a shock that had incapacitated him before, he was able to raise up his left hand and form it into a thumbs up, and then sit up.

He was quickly joined by all of his comrades.

"Knuckles, can you stand?" The pink girl asked, crouching in front of him.

He tried to, but his legs went weak on him, "Damn..."

Thankfully, he was easily caught by the jewel thief before he could fall backwards, "Knucklehead...why'd you do that?" She laughed lightly.

He groaned, "It hurts a lot...you aren't tough enough to stand it."

She smirked and let him go, now that he had his footing, "You're an idiot, but...thanks."

"That's great, we've all survived and Tails is here..." Amy turned and noticed that Tails wasn't next to her anymore, "Tails?"

The fox was standing about two feet away from the fallen robot, who suddenly stopped shaking so much. He was quite caught up in observing it.

"Damage high, combat functionality limited." It still sparked every now and again.

"Do you hear me?"

"I hear you."

"State your level of damage."

"Damage...eighty two percent. Mobility limited, physical strength limited, emergency shock system and circuitry are highly damaged, and Amy personality emulator is offline. Only undamaged portions are the speech emulator, my processor, and memory banks. Targeting computer and visual receptors are damaged beyond self-repair. Need guidance to get to a repair center. Auto repairs that are possible will complete in thirty hours." After a pause, it queried, "Are you friendly?"

"Yes, but I need to state your designation to ensure that you will receive proper maintenance."

"I am Annoyance Imitation Machine, number 0000001 of the series. The doctor calls me Aimbot."

"Annoyance Imitation Machine! That Eggman!" The hammer wielding hedgehog shouted in anger.

"Are you the only one in your series, or just the first?" The two tailed genius just ignored that.

"I recall that my production requires relatively large amounts of certain hard to procure materials. I do not know exact amounts or material names, but I am sure that the Doctor could not mass produce Annoyance Imitation Machines."

"Stop saying that!" Amy shouted.

"Is another unit nearby?"

"No, you are malfunctioning. Shut down so we can transport you to the repair center."

"Affirmative." With that, the robot's eyes fell shut.

Tails stood up, "All right...I modified the Tornado so it would have enough space to carry all of us. I think we have enough room for the robot, but I don't know if it'll be better off destroyed or studied."

The three that had fought it all agreed, "It's better off destroyed."

Though he looked disappointed, the inventor did not stop them from using a few summoned hammers to smash it into pieces.

After that, he took them away from Angel Island, saying that their help might be needed to combat the other end(s) of Eggman's plan.

He assured them that Sonic and Shadow were fine and were waiting back at his house for them.

Amy could barely contain herself until they got to their destination...

They entered Tails's home and found Sonic laying on the couch, asleep, while Shadow was no where to be found. While Tails and the others went into the kitchen to have a drink and a bite to eat, she set her sights on him.

She carefully and quietly walked up to the sleeping hero. When she was standing right next to him, she cried out loudly, "Sonic!"

He awoke suddenly, only to be hugged as he sat up in fright.

With a yawn, he said, "Nice to see you, Amy." One could tell he was annoyed by his position, but he took it well enough.

She released him and started talking to him without giving anyone else a chance to speak, "Sonic, did you stop Eggman yet? Where's Shadow? Are you feeling all right?" It was a barrage of questions, but they were the only things important to her at this moment.

"Uh...no, he left a note in the kitchen about where he was, and yeah." He grinned, "Anyway, I should be asking you if you're all right! You had to spend the night on Angel Island with those two..."

Amy chuckled, "They weren't bad at all, Sonic! They actually got along pretty well, except for one little fight." She decided not to tell him about the nightmare, if only because she didn't want to seem easily shaken, but she did tell him about how Knuckles took that hit for her.

Spending time with him without having him run away from her made her feel happier than she had felt in days.

"That's Knuckles and Rouge for you, I guess. They act like they hate each other, but then they do things like that."

"So romantic..."

"Heh, they'd never admit it, but they're frenemies, through and through."

"You think they'll have little...batchidnas running around one of these days?" She lowered her voice just a little more.

"It wouldn't surprise me, but, then again, I don't see how they could ever get together. It's always, Master Emerald this or Master Emerald that with ol' Knucklehead."

"That's true..."

An even quieter voice joined the conversation, "That's so interesting!"

Both of the hedgehogs yelped as they noticed Rouge, standing just off to the side of them, not very far away at all.

"You know, I also heard that Vanilla really does like Vector back...hah! It's amazing what you can hear if you listen. Some people just talk on and on and on about other people's affairs. You know what I'm saying?"

"Uh...yeah." The pink hedgehog managed after a few awkward seconds.

She spoke at a normal volume, "Anyway, it turns out that Shadow found my cellphone and left it here. His note said to call him if we had any problems. Maybe we can get some relaxation in while Eggman's not up to no good, eh?"

Rouge turned to walk away, but before she got very far, she glanced back and quietly mentioned, "I'm a very good listener, you know." With a smirk on her face, she walked back into the kitchen.

Yawning, he stood up from his spot on the couch, "I think I'm going to see what Tails has in the kitchen, haven't eaten all day."

She followed him there and found the others sitting down, having some leftover lasagna.

Knuckles, of course, ate a little bit sloppily. Rouge didn't do too well or too poorly; she didn't eat daintily or slowly, but she observed proper table manners well enough. The fox, however, ate slowly and carefully.

Tails greeted them with a nervous smile, "Hey, guys, we were just talking about what our next move should be."

"Hm." The fastest thing alive seemed far more interested in just getting a portion of the food than hearing about the plan.

Then again, who could blame him? No one should ever have to fight a bad guy on an empty stomach.

"Well, what is it?" Amy stood next to the table, leaving the last empty chair open for someone special. She couldn't help but be curious and a little eager to foil his scheme to get back at him for the Annoyance Imitation Machine incident.

"Erm..." The boy seemed at a loss for an answer.

"Basically, we've got nothing. No ransom, no hostages, no threat of using the Chaos Emeralds to establish the Eggman Empire, nothing." The echidna put it bluntly, with his mouth half full.

Rouge looked up from her food, gently setting her fork down, "This isn't like Eggman at all. If he is planning anything, he's gone completely under the radar. If he isn't, well, then there's nothing to stop, now is there?"

Sonic took that last chair, without thanking the girl who had sacrificed her right to sit in it for his sake, "Eggman's always planning something. I don't like waiting for him to make a move, but, hey, what else can we do? When he does whatever he's going to do, we'll just send him packing, like always."

After a couple seconds silence, Knuckles added, "There's a problem, though: the police are looking for you, Amy. They don't know Aimbot is scrap metal, so they still think that it's on the loose."

"He's only half right, though," Tails nervously stated, "they don't know what exactly they saw. There were no cameras at the scene that got an accurate shot, thanks to the foliage and the police keeping everyone back. As far as the authorities and the news media are concerned, you were the criminal who assaulted Knuckles and Rouge."

"What?! They saw it at the park, there were two of us! Eggman practically announced that he had made a robot copy of me!" This incensed the younger hedgehog, "How could they not know? I mean, Eggman practically shouted out the truth!"

"Amy, calm down! We came up with a plan." Knuckles tried to assuage her.

Rouge took it up from there, "We're going to put you in a disguise, then send you to Vanilla and Cream's house. You lay low there, while we 'figure out what happened' and show them that you aren't a criminal."

Her temper cooled a little, "I still don't like this. I have to go hide while you guys get to be the heroes! This is so unfair!" She stomped her foot like that would change everything.

"Amy, look, that's how it's gotta be!" Sonic stood up, looking highly irritated at her immaturity.

She turned away from him in a huff and walked into the living room.

"Whatever." She heard Sonic say as she left the room, "She's leaving anyway."

His biggest fan threw herself down on the couch and let out an easily audible noise of indignation.

An audible ringing was heard and, several seconds later, Tails came into the room, "Hey, Amy, the Chaotix are going to be outside in a few to escort you." He held out his right hand and showed her a small, metal disc, "This will make you look like a different person. I never tested it before, but, well, the science is down." He began explaining some science about how it would adhere and how it worked.

She took it from him and firmly attached it to the back of her neck. It stuck rather well.

"All right, now, the image it will turn you into has already been coded in, to turn it on, hold the red button for five seconds. To turn it off, hold it for five seconds again. It will be invisible when you change form. Try it now." The fox looked at her with a mixture of hope and worry in his eyes.

Still flustered, Amy sighed and pressed the button down.


	4. Snare

**The Highest Form of Flattery**

**Chapter 4: Snare**

She felt a small tingling as the machine went to work. Quickly, the sensation vanished and Tails smiled happily, telling her that it was a success.

He led her to a full body mirror attached to the bathroom door and she gasped a little when she saw herself.

Her fur was completely white...and she looked a lot like Cream, only older and less colorful. Every exposed part of her skin and fur was white. Her eyes were gray. Her dress was black as could be, but similar in shape and form to the dress she had been wearing. The boots she was wearing looked more like somewhat trendy work boots than the beautiful fashion accessories she wore into this house. Obviously, someone with little understanding of female fashion had designed this.

"Well, Amy, do you like how you look?"

Still in a sour mood, she gave him a shrug, "It's okay."

"I think you look nice." The two tailed fox did his best to make her feel better, but knew it was futile; she had always considered herself to be quite beautiful, so any change in form would not likely be an improvement to her.

The hedgehog with a rabbit's guise walked past him and out into the living room.

"Okay, now, remember, someone who touches you will be able to notice that you aren't what you look like, because you still feel like you really are, be careful." He mentioned before she could get too far.

The others saw her as she headed for the door, "Hey, who's that pretty, little rabbit?" Rouge teased her with a good natured smile.

Amy decided that waiting in the kitchen wouldn't kill her, but she was in no mood to talk too much.

"You'd never recognize her...even her expression looks real." Sonic whistled, obviously surprised at the results. He didn't seem to be angry or apologetic.

"Hmph. I still say that the robe and veil idea would have worked better." The echidna threw in his two cents.

"The veil in itself is conspicuous. A white rabbit just looks like a tourist from the cold lands."

"All right, Rouge, you've got a point." He shrugged, "Then again, the Chaotix..."

The comment was interrupted by the ringing of a cellphone.

Rouge answered it, "She'll be out soon." When she hung it up, she gave instructions to the departing girl, "All right, Vector is the only one who is actually here. Apparently, he left Espio and Charmy back at the detective office He'll know who you are, but he's going to act like you're Vanilla's niece. Just call yourself Ivy if anyone asks...most people probably won't recognize you by voice. Once you're at the house, just stay inside and you can keep the disguise off."

They all exchanged their farewells.

As she got outside, though, Sonic called for her to stop and spoke to her quietly, "Hey, look, I didn't mean to yell at you like that. I'm sorry." He seemed sincere and, even though she had partially resolved to ignore him, she forgot all about that.

Amy gave him one last hug, though it was not a hard one to ensure that he could not easily run, "I forgive you." It was such a tiny thing to receive an apology, but it felt like so much more coming from him.

With that, she gave him one last goodbye and left the house.

Not far down the way, she found the detective. He was listening to his headphones and waiting. On the latter's shoulder was a duffel bag.

"Ivy, good to see you! I brought some stuff for you in this bag so you'd be comfortable at Ms. Vanilla's house for the next few days. I'll carry it for you, don't worry."

"Hello, Vector."

He quickly gestured for her to follow him, obviously eager to get to his destination.

The trip definitely wasn't short, but it was among the most quiet she had had in her life. For some reason, they both didn't feel that conversational. The reptile had taken his headphones off and was really attentive of his surroundings. At a couple points along the way, she thought that he was talking to himself.

When they arrived, he looked quite anxious.

'Ivy' offered to knock on the door for him when he seemed to lose his nerve, but that caused him to insist on being the one to do so.

He knocked and held his breath, only to let it out when the smaller of the two rabbits answered, "Hello, Mr. Vector. Hello, A-Ivy." She giggled at her own error, "Please come in, you've walked a long way. Mother and I made a nice fruit salad for you!"

They entered the house and walked into the kitchen, to find Vanilla dishing out servings of the aforementioned salad. The table was set with a nice, red and white checkered table cloth and some fine silverware.

The homemaker greeted them with a smile and invited them to sit down.

"Ms. Vanilla...this is very kind of you..."

Amy was no where near interested in watching him stutter and worry about impressing the older rabbit, though, she was solely concerned with turning off the disguise machine. As she held the button down, she was already sitting. The sensation from before came and left in an instant.

Cream's look of astonishment told her that she had gone back to normal again.

"Amy, how did you do that? Is it like the hammer trick?"

"No, Tails is to thank for this..." She tried to pull off the little disc, but it firmly held onto her neck, "...I just wish he hadn't made this thing grip so strongly...I can't get it off."

"That's because you aren't supposed to be able to!" Eggman's voice shattered the peace as a soft pitter patter of footsteps could be heard in the entrance to the kitchen.

"Sonic!" The pink hedgehog happily stated as he came into sight, with both hands behind his back. She got to her feet and took one step forward.

"Ha ha!" The robot was the source of the sinister voice, "This is the Aimbot prototype, the noncombatant model, with most of its programming in imitation. Even though it wasn't perfect, it was still able to seem like Sonic well enough for several hours. It was also able to hack that device on your neck when you hugged it. Oh what technology can do! Only a few seconds to transmit a virus capable of turning an image generator into a shock device!"

She scoffed at this, "A shock device, that's usel-" Suddenly, she was down on the floor, unable to move voluntarily. All she could see was the wall as she twitched worthlessly. Even when the shaking stopped, she couldn't quite get herself to move, and her entire body felt numb.

"Amy!" Cream cried out in concern, as the others looked, shocked.

The professor laughed, "It was good enough to cripple you temporarily! Leave it to Tails to make an invention that could be exploited with a simple circuitry altering virus! Now, Vanilla, hands high!" More laughter came as the rabbits screamed, "Yes, it's a non-combat model, but it can still hold a gun! Brilliant, isn't it? Get back, Crocodile! You can beat me, but someone's going to get shot!"

"Eggman!" He growled, stomping the ground.

"You heard me! Don't move!" Eggman ordered again.

"All right, all right, just don't shoot them."

"Oh, of course not."

Suddenly, a great portion of wall she was staring at collapsed as a large metal hand burst through it. Though she squirmed desperately, nothing could stop it from wrapping its digits around her midsection. The others, unfortunately, were unable to help due to the gun that was being pointed at them.

"No! I'd never hurt her! Then there would be no reason for Sonic to come back! I lack the resources to cause enough of a disturbance to get that hedgehog to come back from the sabbatical he's been on since he evaded my detection devices, and this little rodent...she's a valuable enough hostage to bring him back from the other side of the planet, if necessary!" Eggman laughed heartily, "Besides, how would you be able to savor the glory of the Eggman Empire if I were to just go around killing all of you when I don't have to?"

The arm pulled her away, lifting her off of the ground. It also turned her around, giving her a clear view of Vector standing in front of Vanilla, facing the robot bravely.

"Please, tell everyone you know! When Sonic returns, she will be released safely! You have my promise!" The robot still spoke for the doctor.

Suddenly, just before Amy was pulled outside and out of seeing distance of the incident, the fake Sonic turned the gun on itself and blew a hole in its own head.

Despite the fact that it was robotic and made out of metal, the bullet pierced it like glass. Lifelessly, it fell to the floor with a great clang.

The detective, at that point, recognized his chance to save Amy, but he was too slow. When he jumped up to smash the arm, he came up short by only a few, short inches. With a mighty jerk, the arm pulled her into the air...and she noticed that it was attached to a hovercraft similar to the one Eggman would normally pilot. However, it was unmanned.

Though she could move now, there wasn't any room to wriggle out of its grasp. Even if she did, there was too much distance between her and the ground to even consider taking the fall.

A few minutes into the flight, Eggman's voice reached her ears, "My apologies, Amy, but I didn't plan on having to take you like this."

"Then you shouldn't have taken me at all!" She looked up and, with a slight gasp, noticed that the craft was invisible.

"Look, I didn't have a choice in the matter, you little brat!"

"Well, neither did I!" She shouted back, rivaling his volume.

"Ahem...yes, I apologize for that, again." This time, he actually sounded a little sincere, "We'll talk when you get to the base."

She silently reminded herself that, if she got the chance, she would have her hammer take charge of the discussion.

For several more minutes, things were quiet.

The robot stopped at a grassy plain, but, suddenly, the ground itself parted as a hidden hanger door was revealed. Hovering cautiously, the craft lowered itself slowly until it was below the ground and waited for the doors to close before descending very much further. Before the doors shut, she saw that it was a giant area, with metal walls, floors, and even metal ceilings. There were other things to be seen, but there was such a long distance that it was impossible to discern what was what with much certainty. It was the sort of environment that would be typical of the doctor.

As the silver doors shut, the room was left in a pitch black state.

After what felt like an age of descending, eventually she was gently set down on the cold hard floor. The hand released her, ensuring that she was not even the slightest bit uncomfortable.

There was a soft clanking as someone entered the chamber, "Ah...Amy Rose, so good to see you."

"I'm almost glad I can't say the same." Amy bitterly remarked.

He chuckled lightly and began circling her, judging by the sound of footsteps, "Again, I must say that I am sorry for this trouble, but you're the only one who can help me."

She did her best to make the last two words as mocking as possible, "Help you?! You're just after Sonic, so you can kill him and start the 'Eggman Empire'!"

"Not true! I rarely dirty my hands when I am not forced to! Besides, I don't want to kill Sonic." He stopped his pacing somewhere in front of her.

"What are you after then?" Her accusing tone dulled a little bit as curiosity entered it.

"Actually, I need your help to...ah...perhaps you should see it." He sounded quite nervous.

"See what?" This put her on guard.

"You'll see. "

A door near the side of the room hissed open and there were more audible footsteps, these fell far heavier than the doctor's.

"Lights!"

Everything was illuminated in an instant, causing her to wince and shut her eyes.

When Amy opened her eyes, she caught sight of another copy, as well as the doctor. The robot stood with a small canister in its hands. Only a moment later, did she recognize it as a grenade. Instantly, she called her hammer to her hands, but the shock came all too quickly. The Piko-Piko Hammer fell to the ground, as its owner did.

"You disappoint me, Amy, I thought we could have handled this peacefully." His maniacal laughter haunted her ears as she heard a loud clash of metal on metal near her body and a small hissing noise. Her eyes tried to fall shut, but she fought to hold them up for a moment. A pleasant smell graced her nose and everything felt so peaceful as she became one with the darkness...


	5. Persevere

**The Highest Form of Flattery**

**Chapter 5: Persevere  
**

For the longest time, she couldn't awaken or fall asleep. Her being danced between the two, unable to choose. Amy couldn't really decide, either, as she felt so content where she was.

Occasionally, she heard voices, but they spoke nonsense to her.

It felt like she in the warmest place she could be...and yet she wasn't hot. All was comfortable, all was perfect. There was no reason to move...no reason to worry...

"...my!" This startled her, as it was the first intelligible noise to break into her life for so long. It was still so hard to understand, and the voice was dulled, as if it had trouble reaching her. No longer did she feel so calm, so certain of her surroundings. She had to do something...but it felt so good to stay.

"Amy!" The voice became clearer and she knew that she had to wake up. The only problem was that she didn't think she could. As much as she willed herself to come to, she just couldn't do it.

As she resolved herself to spend an eternity in the dark, the voice came again, "Amy! Please wake up!" It was such a gentle voice.

With that, the barrier was broken.

When she woke up, she found Eggman standing over her, smiling with only a trace of worry on his face, "Amy! It's good to see you up!"

She sat up and felt rather weak and woozy.

He observed her as she clumsily made her way over to the edge of the bed and onto her feet, smiling, "Good morning, Doctor!" She had known him for so long. They had been friends for ages, almost as long as she could remember.

"I hate to impose on you so soon, Amy, but I must ask a favor." He frowned, as if shamed.

She eagerly replied, "Anything. That's what friends are for!"

"Well, I need-" He was cut off by the sound of an alarm going off.

"That must be our guests...I wanted a different favor, Amy, but I will be honored if you help Aimbot defend this base."

The door opened and the aforementioned mechanical creation stepped into the room.

"Of course!" With an innocent smile, the pink hedgehog climbed to her feet and summoned her hammer, "Lead the way!"

"Affirmative."

With that, the two rushed off in the direction of the incursion.

Upon arriving in the hanger bay that served as an entrance hall, they encountered five intruders.

Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Rouge, and Tails were standing in the middle of the room. This particular section was empty of everything except some machine parts and a broken down ship, so there was no where to hide.

"Located. Prepare to commence combat mode."

Amy felt confused as she laid eyes on the group. She couldn't raise her hammer against them, they were her friends...

Her hammer's head touched the floor and, suddenly, she recalled that they had done something unforgivable to her. She felt an animosity towards them for that great affront, however, overtaking her desire to treat them as friends and allies. They had been her friends, once, but now she wanted to destroy them. When they betrayed her friendship, they forfeited their lives!

Hatred washed over her mind, taking away her concern and hesitation. The damsel raised her weapon and took a ready stance, as her comrade did the same.

"Two more of them? I hope Eggman hasn't made any more of these robots..." The little fox stated with a little bit of despair entering his tone.

"Can you hold them off, guys? If I can get to Eggman and free Amy, I can get him to shut down these fakes for good!" Sonic asked, obviously shaken by the concept of having to fight something that looked so much like his number one fan.

"I'll go with you, Sonic. I don't think these three will have too much trouble." The ultimate life form stated.

"We've got things here, Sonic!" Knuckles stated proudly.

Rouge nodded her affirmative.

"All right, let's go, Shadow!"

"Chaos Control!" With that, the two hedgehogs were gone and the odds were looking much better for Eggman's side.

Aimbot pulled out a communicator, "Doctor, Sonic and Shadow are headed further into the base."

"Roger, I will be prepared for them. Don't let any more get through!"

When the communicator was away, it readied itself for the fight by calling its own weapon.

Knuckles led the charge, with Rouge and Tails trailing behind.

The robot dashed at them, attempting to meet the echidna head on. Amy followed on the left flank, ready to go after the weakest member of their group.

The organic ally of the mad scientist lost sight of her ally as she met Miles Prower a few meters behind where Aimbot met the others.

He was in the air, with a little gun. No doubt, it would not be in her best interest to be hit by it.

"Come down here and fight like a man!" She jumped into the air, unable to reach him at the height he had chosen to fly at, and swung at him. However, she missed him by a foot. In response, he fired the gun at her. It hit her, but it only stung quite a bit and left her right arm tingling a bit, "Ouch!"

"Wait a second...you're not a robot!" Tails looked so shocked that he nearly fell down into the reach of the hedgehog, but was able to pull himself back up above the reach of her weapon.

"No, Tails, I'm Amy Rose!"

His eyes got as wide as could be, "Amy, what are you doing?! You're on our side, remember?"

"I'd never side against the Doctor!" She stated angrily, stomping her foot as if it made her more intimidating.

"Knuckles, duck!"

Amy turned to see the guardian being picked up by his throat. He was starting to choke.

"Break his neck, Aimbot!" She ordered, only half a second too late.

"No!" Tails fired his little gun again and this time, it hit the robot right in its head.

Dropping Knuckles, it fell to the ground and flailed helplessly. Between nonsense and binary, it proclaimed that it was unable to see or control its movements.

"Bullseye! Good shot, Tails!" The bat cheered, as she went to check on the echidna who was currently gasping for precious air.

"Guys! This is the real Amy! The EMP blaster is worthless against her!"

"We heard." Knuckles groaned as he got to his feet.

"What do we do?" The flying genius asked, desperately.

"We beat her like any other enemy, I guess." Came the reply from the ground-bound male.

She clutched her hammer tightly, realizing that she was greatly outnumbered and in danger.

"I think we can handle this in a much more civilized fashion, as I'm sure Amy here doesn't want to be beaten to a pulp. And I'm sure Sonic wouldn't be happy if we put his number one fan in the hospital." Rouge stepped forward, her arms perpendicular to her body.

"Hah! Sonic would be glad to see my corpse laid at his feet!"

"Sonic? Are you sure we're talking about the same hedgehog? I don't see you chasing after such a vicious murderer. I see you chasing after an easygoing, heroic blue hedgehog, not a murderer. Don't you?"

Memories of her hugging and fawning over him came to her. Her resolve was shaken for that moment, but she steeled herself, "You are the worst among them, Rouge! They don't even know when you are telling the truth! Every time you make an ally, it's only as long as it pays!"

"Oh, Amy, I'm offended!" Her tone was mocking, but it quickly grew serious, "Why did you suddenly decide to work for Eggman?"

"The doctor has been my friend for many years now!" Her resolve wavered ever so slightly.

"Friend, hah! He has kidnapped you on many occasions to get Sonic to put his neck on the line. Sometimes, he has even hurt your friends and you, without a care in the world!"

"I...erm..." Again, recollections of some of those moments stirred in her head. She was unable to form a solid comeback.

"But his grip on you is light indeed! If he were really your friend, you wouldn't be so unsure about defending him!" Carefully, the thief came a few steps closer.

A part of her wanted to agree with her, but another portion of her mind held fast to what it believed to be the truth, leading her to no solid conclusion about what to do, "Well..."

Rouge kept walking forward, "But, I know that he has not erased who you are, Amy."

"Get back!" She backstepped slightly, raising the hammer.

"Amy, you wouldn't hurt a true friend."

The pink hedgehog found herself unable to swing her hammer, even as the white furred woman got within arms reach. She hated how she felt, but she couldn't do anything about it; without an idea of what she should do, she couldn't do anything but stand around and allow things to happen.

The Piko Piko Hammer fell to the ground, harmlessly, as Rouge pulled Amy into a tight embrace.

As she did in the darkness, Amy felt at peace again. The hatred that had consumed her not long ago abandoned her, leaving her serene.

"Oh Rouge..." At this moment, she realized what had truly happened, "I'm sorry...I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, sugar. You weren't yourself. Sonic and Shadow will be making Eggman pay for that."

Tails opened his communicator, "Sonic, are you all right?"

"Yeah, Tails, we've got Eggman's robot on the ropes. We'll be done in a minute. We haven't found Amy yet."

"We have...it's a long story." The two tailed fox mentioned.

"Well, I'll be glad to hear-" There was static, "later, but...gah!"

Apparently he was still holding down the transmit button, as he could be heard yelling curses at Shadow for scaring him.

"We'll be out in a moment."

They all met up outside and started a leisurely walk towards the plane. It was going to be a bit of a walk, but it didn't seem like such a long way, with no real reason to hurry. Even though the sun was about to set, that wasn't a major problem.

"So, that was Eggman's plan! Confuse us with all the fake Amys, then get us to fight the real one while he tries to launch his latest robot? Just like ol' Eggman, I guess. I chased the one up north and destroyed it in the ice lands, by the way. I hope that's all of them."

"All by yourself? I find that a little hard to believe." Knuckles stated.

"Well, it was too powerful to fight straight on, the way you fight, Knux, but it wasn't adapted for a battle in icy lands. It slid right into the water and short circuited."

"I would have just destroyed it myself." The black hedgehog noted solemnly, trying to upstage the cobalt wonder.

"Yeah, well, I was trying to conserve my energy! It's hard to fight in the cold when your feet are going numb through your shoes!"

"Whatever you say."

"It's true!"

As the hedgehogs quarreled, trying to one up each other, the treasure hunters moved closer to each other and fell back behind the show-offs and the quiet fox. They were walking in front of her, though they probably didn't think she was listening, as they were talking rather quietly.

"Rouge..."

"Yeah?"

"How'd you do that before? You defeated Eggman's mind control like it was nothing."

"Knucklehead, it wasn't really mind control. It was a form of conditioning that he must have used when she was suggestible, but...well, usually it's rather feeble unless there's time to build it up. She was only gone for a few hours. I just went on a hunch and followed it through. It turned out I was right, for while he did put good suggestions in her head, there was little to back them up. He couldn't create memories in her head. He could make her feel a certain way about something or someone, but he obviously didn't find out how to properly alter her memory. He could put lies in her head, but he couldn't make them as real as the memories already in her head."

"Well, I'm glad you were right. It would have been pretty hard to clean you off of the wall if she smacked you with that hammer."

"I knew you would have been there to back me up if I had been wrong."

He sounded a little embarrassed, "Well, thanks...I know it doesn't mean all that much, but...I would have trusted you to the do the same." The last part of his statement was a little rushed.

"Aw...thank you." She smiled and delivered a kiss to him that only their pink observer saw.

They fell quiet as they noticed that the hedgehogs had raced off into the distance and Tails had been watching. With a sheepish shrug, the fox dashed after them.

They laughed at themselves, knowing that Miles wouldn't make a big deal of their little moment, before looking back to Amy.

It was that moment when the smile returned to her face for the first time since she had escaped the conditioning. It was a hollow smile, though.

To her surprise, the gruffer of the two spoke first, "Hey, Amy...you all right?"

This made her feel just a little bit better, but it weakened her smile, because she knew it wasn't fooling anyone if it didn't fool Knuckles.

"What kind of stupid question is that?! Of course she's not okay! She had a really stressful moment back there!" This irritated the bat.

And then her mood had fallen back down to a spot just a bit lower than where it had been. Her smile vanished completely.

"Hey, I was just trying to make-" He got defensive quickly.

"No." Amy stated before they could get very far into their argument. She wasn't about to let them wreck her mood any further by fighting, not now.

Everything stopped for a moment and they stared at her, half confused and half apologetic.

"Not now, guys...let's just walk."

They didn't take it any further than that. Out of respect for Amy, they stayed silent. Though she still felt bad now, she knew it would feel better very soon.

Amy was returned to her apartment later that night, but not before Sonic got a chance to finally talk to her after all this time of being apart.

"Hey, Amy." He greeted her, none of his usual confidence absent.

Wordlessly, she looked into his eyes for several moments, savoring their current proximity.

For once in his life, he approached her and gave her a hug, "Hey, Amy, I'm sorry about being away when you needed me."

"It's okay." She said sincerely, pulling away, "Sonic…"

"Yeah?"

"I missed you too…" He seemed just a little nervous, "see you tomorrow."

"I'll see you then." She replied with a small smile, turning away, "My darling Sonic." She whispered, just loud enough for him to hear.

Cheerfully, he laughed before he took off into the distance.

With hope in her heart, she strolled into her apartment and went to bed. Sleep came to her quickly as her troubles were carried away on the wind, just like Sonic's laughter.

**-The End-**

**Ending Notes: ** I never thought this idea would get off the ground, but it was the one my muse pushed me into creating. To my surprise, it became a short little tale that I'm actually a little proud of. I debated taking it a little longer, but I figured that it would end best here. I offer in this closing statement, a salute to the readers and reviewers, as well as those who set the story to alert. I hope you all enjoyed this fanfic.


End file.
